The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for aligning and placing insulators, such as insulators called wedges, along slots of a magnetic core of a dynamoelectric machine.
Co-pending Kindig and Brown application Ser. No. 666,143, filed Mar. 11, 1976 which subsequently issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,009 on May 31, 1977; and Bale U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,116 which issued Jan. 18, 1977, are both directed to subject matter that is generally related to the subject matter of this application; and the entire disclosures of these two patents are specifically incorporated herein by reference.
In the manufacture of dynamoelectric machine stator assemblies, diverse operations are performed in order to place winding material and various insulating material members in and along axially extending slots of a magnetic core; and in order to properly orient, shape, or position the insulating material members and winding material relative to the slots, bore, or end faces of the magnetic core.
One method used heretofore in the manufacture of stator assemblies has involved placing insulating material, such as an epoxy coating or "slot liners" along the interior walls of slots that extend axially along a magnetic core and that open onto the bore of the core. Thereafter, winding turns of a first winding phase have been axially inserted along the slots, and fiber material wedges have temporarily been placed in the slots to hold the winding turns in the proper position therein. Then, at a later point in time, the temporary wedges have been removed and thrown away; and insulators known as "phase", "window", or "H" insulators have been positioned over the winding material already in the slots; legs of the window insulation have been pressed back into the slots; and winding turns of a second winding phase have then been placed in the core slots.
In addition to all of the above, "final" slot closure insulators have been placed at the slot openings (between the slot accommodated winding conductors and bore) in order to prevent any winding conductors from moving out of the core slots. The above referenced Bale patent clearly reveals methods and apparatus that may be utilized for the purpose of "setting" the final slot closure insulators or "wedges", and to generally simultaneously "shape" winding end turn envelopes.
On the other hand, the above referenced Kindig and Brown application fully discloses methods and apparatus that may be utilized when "separator" or "between phase" insulators are to be placed in core slots after winding conductors of a first winding phase have been placed therein, but before winding conductors of a second winding phase are placed in the same slots.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that motors of different designs may be manufactured with winding arrangements such that some core slots will be shared by conductors of different phases, while other slots may be occupied by conductors of only one phase. Moreover, "shared slots" will usually include a phase separator wedge, and usually al of the slots will be provided with a slot closure wedge. Persons skilled in the art will also recognize that the wedges -- whether of the phase separator or slot closure type -- may be placed in the core slots substantially concurrently with the placement of conductors therein, or after the conductors have been placed in the slots. Such persons will also recognize that such insulators are called "wedges" even though they are seldom, if ever, actually wedge-like in shape.
The above referenced Kindig and Brown application represents one mode of carrying out the latter approach just mentioned, while winding, injecting, and wedging equipment and processes of th type shown in Arnold et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,601 or injecting and wedging equipment typified by Hill U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,536 represent modes of carrying out the former. For purposes of providing further background information, the entire disclosures of the just mentioned Arnold et al and Hill patents are also incorporated herein by reference.
Regardless of the actual process or equipment used, it is desirable that the "final" slot closure or "final" phase separator wedges be generally centered, lengthwise along the axially extending core slots, so that at least generally similar amounts of wedge material extend out of the slots at each core face.
Some processes presently utilized for placing wedges -- particularly temporary wedges -- result in "uneven" wedge placement, and if such wedges were to be used permanently, it would be necessary for operators to manually position and center the wedges axially along the core slots.
In view of all of the foregoing, it should now be understood that it would be desirable to provide new and improved methods that would establish the desired proper positon of axially off center insulators without the need to resort to extra manual labor steps.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method of axially repositioning previously placed but axially off center insulators (e.g., wedges) in the slots of magnetic cores.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method that involves axially repositioning previously placed insulators in combination with (and generally contemporaneously with) the performance of at least one other manufacturing process step whereby there is no incremental amount of labor and time associated with repositioning such insulators.
It is an even more specific object of the present invention to provide improved methods of the type just mentioned which do not require large amounts of capital investment or tooling expense in order to be economically put into use.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved apparatus that may be used to carry out the above mentioned methods but which do not require large incremental capital investment or tooling expense prior to being useful for carrying out such methods.